Get Inspired In The Kitchen With Mealspirations

03/26/2014

If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you know that I’m not the greatest cook – despite my best efforts!  I really enjoy the process of cooking, but with our busy lives I tend to rely more on quick convenient options.  Then I discovered Mealspirations. They deliver healthy, chef-developed recipes and the high quality fresh ingredients
 to prepare them at home. They take care of the meal planning and shopping while you do the fun part – cooking!

Each week their chef creates 3 delicious recipes, and all of the fresh ingredients and recipe cards arrive on your door step Sunday evening.  You can choose between a meal that serves 2 or 4.  In our house of two adults and one four year old, the meals for 2 were the perfect size to satisfy us all.  However, next time I would definitely pick the 4 person size so that we had leftovers for lunch!

As I sit down to right this review, the first thought that comes to mind is how brilliant of a name “Mealspirations” is.  The service is so much more than just a convenient way to make dinner; it has truly inspired me to enjoy cooking again.  For example, asparagus is one of our favourite vegetables, and night after night I just steam it and plop it on the plate.  One of the recipes prompted me to dig out the parchment paper I had sitting in my bottom drawer.  A little olive oil and salt and pepper, roasted for 8 minutes, and it tasted like the chef prepared asparagus I eat at restaurants.  It took the same amount of time to make, and inspired me to break out of my normal routine.  I have made this 3 times since first reading the recipe!

You’re probably wondering if the meals are kid friendly.  As I put the stir-fry down on the table, my son squished up his nose and said “that’s gross – it smells funny.”  Like most battles at mealtime, I asked him to try just one bite.  And then this happened.  Twice.

The Beef Stir-Fry sauce was honestly the best thing our family has ever tasted.  And the funny thing was that I already had most of the ingredients in my panty…so why did I always just reach for the soya sauce when I made stir-frys?  And why was it always a chicken stir-fry?  Because I was uninspired. Not any more!  Now I have the recipe on hand to make whenever I’d like.

I am the self proclaimed “Queen Of The Two-Step” – and I don’t mean that I am a fantastic dancer.  Ever since having my son, normal tasks that should be completed all at once seem to be broken into 2 – or sometimes 10 – steps.  Vacuuming is done one room at a time, laundry always has to be dewrinkled from sitting in the dryer too long, and I often watch movies in 10 parts.  As most busy moms can relate, it’s the 5 minute increments in between activities like school pick-ups and Lego marathons where I get the bulk of my work done.  Therefore,  I found it easier to do all of my vegetable chopping in one step, and store it in the fridge until the next time slot presented itself.  Mealspirations tells you the level of difficulty for each meal so it’s easy to plan when you’re going to make each dish based on the time you have available.

Linda, the founder of Mealspirations told me that many couples cook the meals together and use the occasion as a “date night” at home – such a great idea for new parents who might not be ready to leave the house but have a sleeping baby in the next room!

One of the other benefits of this service that I didn’t immediately realize is that you will actually have tons of leftover ingredients.  After preparing my 3 meals, I had left over lemon, lime, coconut milk, chickpeas, tomato paste, ginger, garlic and parsley.  Feeling inspired, I created my own butter chicken recipe.

Customers usually sign up for a weekly delivery, but the program is incredibly flexible.  You can opt for just one delivery a month, and put your service on hold or cancel whenever you’d like.  3 meals serving 2 people is $78 ($144 for 4 people)  For people who love cooking, but find it hard with their busy lives, this is the perfect service.  And in case you were wondering if my little food critic liked the other dishes…